Susan Crosby - Bound by the Baby

Author:Bound By The Baby [Baby, Bound By The]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"Are you hungry?" she asked, stalling their conversation.

He glanced over his shoulder from where he was hunkered in front of the fire. She didn't know why he insisted on starting fires from kindling when there was also a gas line that made the process simple. Some latent Boy Scout genes in him, she guessed.

"I wouldn't mind a sandwich," he said.

She fixed him a ham-and-Swiss on rye, added a dill pickle and some chips, and poured a glass of beer. He was closing the fire screen when she placed the tray on the wood-plank coffee table in front of the sofa.

"You're not eating?" he asked.

"No."

"You look nice. Is that new?"

"Yes."

He didn't sigh audibly but she saw its equivalent in his body language. She didn't want to be annoyed with him. She had anticipated his return with more pleasure than she'd expected, then he'd ruined it all with his me-Tarzan, you-Jane routine. If he wanted information, he was going to have to ask the questions. She wouldn't offer anything voluntarily. He still didn't trust her. She got that. And she didn't like him much at the moment. That gave them an even playing field, as far as she was concerned.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" he asked, lifting his sandwich from the plate.

"No."

He sort of smiled, examined his ham-and-Swiss a moment, then took a bite. The crackle of the fire was the only sound in the room.

"I don't like Mark," he said.

"I got that, loud and clear. Is it Mark or any man?"

"I haven't seen you with another man, so I can't answer that question. Did you invite him up here?"

"He showed up right before the end of my shift."

"Uninvited?"

"Yes. He was worried. I hadn't called him since he found out about...us. The baby. I hadn't given him the number here."

"Why not?"

She shrugged.

"Why not, Nicole?"

"Avoidance, I guess."

"Shame?"

"Maybe a little. Although more embarrassment than shame, I think."

"At what?"

"Getting pregnant," she said in a tone she figured he should understand. It was stupid in this day and age to get pregnant accidentally.

"You're embarrassed about me."

She had to think that through for a minute, then finally said, "I don't know what to make of you. You say you won't tell my father about the baby in front of Mark, then you do. You barely know me, yet you claim public ownership. I spend a lot of time trying to figure you out"

"Me, too."

"Figuring yourself out or me?"

"Myself. I'm going to be a father. That's amazing. I'm not the man I was before because of that."

Since he'd given her that much, she decided to tell him everything that had happened with Mark. "Mark came because he was worried and a little irritated, too. He blames you for keeping me from him, which wasn't true, since I'd done that on my own."

"But would've been true if I'd known about it," he offered, surprising her with his honesty.

"I think he'd been hoping he and I might get back together."

Devlin laughed, short and unamused. "You think?"

"He offered to marry me if you didn't.

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